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“Need tea before my brain can work. Grabbed this one because I am finding I enjoy trying different breakfast blends. No clue why but I do.
Can’t really get any smell off the dry leaves. I mean,...”
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“Having a cup of this tea for breakfast today. Unfortunately I think it may be my last cup. I went through this tea pretty quickly. It is a very nice strong breakfast tea. It holds up well with most...”
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“This one is close to the bottom of my current ratings so a strong contender for icing. Before I go down that path with it, which is likely to result in a sip down on the first go given the size of...”
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“I received this as a bagged sample in an order from Tavalon. Seems like a pretty standard breakfast blend. I would drink it again, but I’m not in love with it.
The bag is interesting. I can’t...”
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Tavalon's goal is not only to create the best tea blends the world has ever known, but also to cater these tea blends to the American palate. We aim to become a tea company for both tea connoisseurs and newcomers to the tea world, providing premium teas and accessories to a global audience.

14 Tasting Notes

Need tea before my brain can work. Grabbed this one because I am finding I enjoy trying different breakfast blends. No clue why but I do.

Can’t really get any smell off the dry leaves. I mean, they smell like something but I can’t identify what. My nose is a bit stuffy so I’m not going to fault the tea on that one. The brewed tea smells very… tea-like. A little sweet, a little… nutty and earthy maybe?

The taste is smooth and rich but not overly distinct. A little heavy feeling, but not in a clunky way because the overall feel of the tea is smooth and silky. So more like a heavy satin than anything unpleasant. I really enjoy the feel of this, actually. Solid and hearty but not rough.

No bitterness, no real astringency (just a tiny dryness at the end maybe), the nutty flavor seems to be the most distinct. I seem to get a hint of my beloved cardboard every so often but it’s not very strong so I might be imagining it or hoping for it.

Overall, a good tea, I think. Not super-special or flavorful but I really loved the heavy feel of it, especially since it was coupled with a nice smoothness – no rough bitterness or astringency that seems to come from heavier bodied teas. I’m not sure if I’ll have to get some, but I kind of wish I had a lot more in my pantry to slowly go through. If that makes any sense. So probably not one I have to go out and buy RIGHTNOW but when I order from Tavalon, I bet I’ll get some of this.

I also made the husband a cup. He likes it quite a lot saying that it seems to give different tastes with each sip – sometimes it is like a heavy Irish breakfast and others like a smooth black. He’s finding a bit of bitterness/astringency on the very tail of the sip that he says keeps it from becoming a 5 star tea for him, but it’s a 4/5 for sure.

ETA: Had the second steep of this (@6:30) with some fairly strong, butterscotch-y cheese and crackers and it held up well. Even though it had a thinner body that the first steep, the flavor was still nice and strong enough to combat stinky cheese.

Preparation

I’m glad you liked this. Funny – the ceylon wasn’t bitter for me, but this one was. I think I drank them while I was studying, so it’s entirely possible that I wasn’t being too careful about making them. I have too many teas, both in general and that I need to revisit.

I think both of them have a bit of astringency/bitterness so I can see how brewing methods (or even how long they sit in a cup) would change that factor in them and I might have run up against that, especially with the Ceylon because I didn’t drink it all that quickly. Perhaps I just lucked out with this one. But I think overall I accept the astringency from this one since it is overall a nice, hearty tea and not from the Ceylon because it was a lighter bodied tea that I felt couldn’t deal with bitterness. That and the Ceylon ended up really tart at the end. (Though the slurping exacerbated it, which is totally my fault).

Having a cup of this tea for breakfast today. Unfortunately I think it may be my last cup. I went through this tea pretty quickly. It is a very nice strong breakfast tea. It holds up well with most breakfast foods.

Preparation

This one is close to the bottom of my current ratings so a strong contender for icing. Before I go down that path with it, which is likely to result in a sip down on the first go given the size of the container, I wanted to try it hot again. So I made some and brought it with me to watch No. 1, my black belt, help teach very tiny yellow belts martial arts.

This has been in my stash a long time so it may be that time has affected it, but the metallic, potato notes I remember aren’t there. It’s a nice, medium bodied, fairly strong breakfast blend.

In another world where I had less tea this would rate higher most likely. In fact, I am resisting raising the rating now. But only because I have such an embarrassment of riches in my cupboard now.

ETA: I misremembered. It was the Tavalon Earl Grey that had the metallic, potato notes — not this one.

I received this as a bagged sample in an order from Tavalon. Seems like a pretty standard breakfast blend. I would drink it again, but I’m not in love with it.

The bag is interesting. I can’t find anything on their website to say what it is, but it doesn’t appear to be paper or cloth. It’s like interfacing material, if you sew. It’s not sealed, it’s just folded over. Didn’t seem to interfere with the brewing, though.

In other news, the water cooler at work was FINALLY fixed so I can start having tea at work again – that’s one reason I haven’t been on the site much recently (also travel).

This has definitely become one of my favorite teas, one that I’ll be ordering again. Beautifully strong, holds up excellently with milk and sugar, doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste that so many black teas have if you don’t add the milk and sugar – just the way I love my tea! Fantastic hearty taste.

I drink many different kinds of tea but tend to heavily favor oolong and green teas. Every once in a while a black tea comes along that changes all that, at least for one cup. Tavalon’s NYC Breakfast is one of those teas. My sample was a funky, do –it–yourself tea bag with a fair amount of dry leaves in it. They had a pleasant sweet and nutty aroma. It’s funny but after writing so many reviews, I can usually tell if I will like a tea by the way the leaves smell. I steeped it using 212 degree water for five minutes.

The resulting tea was robust without being overpowering. Their website describes it as energizing and it definitely is. It had a nice aftertaste and did not need any milk or sweeteners. Quite frankly I think to do so would ruin it. That says a lot for a black tea. This tea was a morning staple of mine when I was working in of all places, NYC. I would definitely recommend it. In fact, I will probably order some the next time I win one of their fun Twitter contests. I will definitely have to try this tea iced as well.